Friday, April 24, 2015

The political parties or its
leaders are unlikely to change – it is time, party cadres learn the futility of
dying for leaders. A day after the
alleged suicide of a farmer at AAP rally, political leaders are busy trading
charges as more news emerge on the incident, which raises doubts on whether it
indeed can be termed as a suicide or whether the death was indeed preventable
!!!

Speaking to the media after meeting the
family of Gajendra Singh, AAP leader Sanjay Singh said he shared the grief of
the family and will put forth their requests to Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal.
"Since he died for farmers' cause, we will talk to CM Kejriwal about
granting him the status of 'Kissan Shaheed'. We will also consider giving a
member of their family a government job when they are eligible," Sanjay
Singh said. Typical political response,
one thought !

Devendra Singh, one of the three
brothers of Gajendra, is a constable with the Rajasthan Armed Constabulary . On
Thursday , he rejected the AAP offer for Rs 10 lakh compensation for his
brother's death. “I offer Rs 1 crore to
AAP leaders if they return my brother alive,“ Devendra told reporters about
compensation offers pouring in. While
Rajasthan native Gajendra Singh's suicide on Wednesday in Delhi has led to a
political slug fest, National Crime Records Bureau figures show that the state
lags far behind Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh in the number of farmers
suicides recorded. Out of the total of 11,772 farmers who ended their lives in
India in 2013, 292 were from Rajasthan, putting the state at tenth place when
it comes to farmer suicides.

TOI reports that Gajendra was not the
typical distressed farmer of say , UP's Bundelkhand or Maharashtra's Vidarbha,
regions notorious for farmer suicides. Gajendra was one of sixty-five-year old
Bane Singh's eight children. Bane owns 17 bigha of land at his native Nangal
Jhamarwada village near Bandikui in Rajasthan's Dausa district. His five
daughters and three sons are married. Gajendra had a share of 4.3 bigha of
these 17 bighas, had built a house in a portion of the farmland, away from his
ancestral house, where his wife and children live. Gajendra is survived by wife
and three children -a daughter (Class XII) and two sons, studying in Class I
and IV .

Could he have been brought down and saved ? – photo
credit : BBC

A man with political ambitions,
Gajendra frequented political rallies, mostly those that raised farmers'
problems. He had earlier taken part Congress and BJP meetings but was
disappointed with both parties and was exploring the AAP option.Probably this
brought him to Jantar Mantar and he wanted to attract AAP leaders' attention.
Gajendra was regular at the Jaisalmer desert festival and was a major draw
among tourists, thanks to his turban-tying skill. Family members say this year was the first
time Gajendra had done farming on his own and done some plantation work. “He
was upset at the district officials' response to his crop damage as no
compensation was offered to him,“ a relative said.

BBC
reports that the Chief minister of Indian capital, Delhi, Arvind Kejriwal, has
apologised for continuing his speech after a farmer hanged himself at his
rally. "I think I was wrong, I should not have gone ahead with my speech
and called off the rally. I apologise if I hurt anyone," he told news
agency ANI.

On Thursday, activists from the
opposition Congress party and the governing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)
protested outside Mr Kejriwal's house. They accused Mr Kejriwal of
insensitivity in having continued his rally after the farmer hanged himself, as
well as responsibility for the death itself. Mr Kejriwal has blamed government
policies which he says led to the farmer's death. The police have also been
accused of failing to prevent the death, while some have questioned whether the
farmer had intended to kill himself. In the interview on Friday morning, the
chief minister for the first time admitted that it was a bad idea to go ahead
with the rally, but said he could not see the tree from which the farmer hanged
himself because it was at a distance from the stage.

There
have been suicides - Gajendra Singh's death is the most high-profile incident
of its kind, taking place as it did before thousands of people at a rally in
the capital. In another development, Gajendra Singh's family claims that the
purported suicide note found at Jantar Mantar wasn't written by him. It might
have been slipped into the rally venue by someone to muddy waters.“It was not
his handwriting,“ Gopal Singh, the deceased's uncle, insisted. “What's written
is hard to read.“ “The note is full of lies.We're farmers but not completely
dependent on farming. It's also false that Gajendra's father had thrown him
out.“ He seldom carried a pen with him. Where did he get one, Gajendra's
younger brother, Bijendra asked. “Why
did no one try to stop him from climbing the tree? Why did no leader of AAP try
to dissuade him? There are lots of questions that remain to be answered. We
hold police and the AAP leadership responsible. If any of them had acted
swiftly , he could have been saved,“ Gajendra's uncle Gopal Singh said.

Sadly
another life lost, an inopportune moment – seemingly preventable – but everyone
is indulged in shifting the blame ..... the lesson to be learnt is for the
‘party cadres’- why should one sacrifice for their leaders ? has there been any instance where leaders
have sacrificed for the party. SAD.